WHAT IS A WADA?

The traditional residence in Maharashtra was called the wada.

A wada was typically a large building of two or more storey with groups of rooms
arranged around open courtyards.
Two types of wadas:

One which houses many families, like an apartment building of recent

times or chawl of Mumbai.(Mostly for the middle class families)

One in which only one family resided. (Mostly owned by the richer class

like relatives of the peshwas and traders)

EMERGENCE OF WADA ARCHITECTURE

Wadas - which were the traditional residential form of Maratha architecture,

evolved under the reign of Peshwas.

Its style was an amalgamation where features from Mughal, Rajasthan, and

Gujarat architecture were combined with local construction techniques.

SETTLEMENT OF PUNE UNDER THE PESHWAS

Settlements developed around the Peshwas residence.

Land around the Peshwas residence was divided into wards called peths.

These were self-sufficient units and they were named after the days of weeks or

the person who had established the peths.

SOCIAL STRUCTURE IN SETTLEMENTS

Social life centered around the village community.

The village communities were economically self-reliant and self-sufficient units,

each having its own set of ethics and residential enclaves, shops, temples etc.

The administration was autonomous.

Town had a multinucleated structure.

NEIGHBOURHOOD OF A WADA

The streets and roads in the settlement were narrow.

Roads were never straight as the growth of the settlement was organic.

The plots for construction of wadas were rectangular and lay right next to the
streets.

A wada never had a garden or vistas leading to it.

The urban form of the settlement appeared like a maze of two or three storied
structures having internal open spaces, placed along the road network with very

little open community space.

CASE STUDY: KHARADKAR WADA

This Wada was built in 1875 by Shri Karandikar who was a moneylender by profession
and was related to the Peshwas.
LOCATION

Kharadkar wada is located in Pune, Maharashtra, in Budhwar Peth.

CLIMATE
Pune having a moderate type of climate has the following characteristics:

The solar radiation is more or less the same throughput the year.

The relative humidity in dry periods varies from 20-55% and in monsoons
55-90%.

The total rainfall usually exceeds 1000mm per year. Winter is a dry
season.

Winds are generally in summer.

Their speed and direction mainly depends upon the topography.

The sky is mostly clear with an occasional presence of dense low clouds
during summer.

The design of a wada was not influenced much by the climatic factors rather it
was influenced more by the social and cultural factors.

SOME CHARACTERISTICS OF THE KHARADKAR WADA

Distinct zoning can be seen.

Separate entrances for guests, domestic help, people visiting the durbar, separate
entries for the people performing in the durbar and a separate entry into the cattle
shed.

There are 4 entrances to the house.

Privacy for the women given a priority.

Three main courtyards or chowks.

The wada has its entrance in the southern side.

ZONING

The most significant features of the wada was the way its zoning of public,
private and semi-private spaces was done.

This can be seen very distinctly in the plan.

Visual showing the environment of the wada

Small window openings with wooden grills

There were very few openings on the sides of the building, so the rooms were not
well lit.

The rooms were ventilated from the courtyards.

One of the HAUDS in the wada

One of the most interesting features of this wada was the underground water
supply which came from Katraj dam which was 11kms from the site.

One noteworthy point is that no pumping was required.

The water that came was collected in open tanks called HAUDS.

Kharadkar wada has three separate hauds for separate activities.

One for bathing, one for washing utensils and one for storing drinking water.

All the staircases were places in 4ft thick walls.

This was done so that when the women moved around in the house they wouldn't
be seen from the outside.

This way the privacy of the house was maintained.

All the external walls of the wada were 4ft thick.

This helped to keep the interior of the wall cool in summers.

Stone base supporting a wooden pillar

Niche in the wall

Ring in the courtyard to tie horse

Wooden battens supporting the upper floor

External wall section of a wada

Carving on wooden door frame